Resources For:
Greater Bay Area Cancer Registry
Frequently Asked Questions **
Frequently Asked Questions about Cancer
Which counties are included in the Greater Bay Area? The Greater Bay Area is a nine-county area, including Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Monterey, San Benito, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties. Where can I find cancer rates for the Greater Bay Area and the counties it includes? If you need cancer data that you cannot find in published reports (like those listed above), here are two ways to obtain it: 1) through interactive websites that allow you to specify, calculate and display the data you want, or; 2) through a data request to us at the Greater Bay Area Cancer Registry (GBACR).
Why are Greater Bay Area Cancer Registry data almost two years behind? The Greater Bay Area Cancer Registry collects information from many different sources: hospitals, clinics and other health care facilities throughout the nine-county area. It is very important that the information the registry collects is accurate and complete. It takes time to collect and verify all this information. Complete information on a cancer case and the first course of treatment may not be available until six months after the initial diagnosis. Many cases are reported to the regional registries by multiple facilities or health care providers, and all the reports must be consolidated into a single record containing the best information available. Another factor is the increasing number of cancer patients who are diagnosed and treated in doctors' offices without ever being admitted to a hospital; more effort is required to find these cases. In addition, the strict quality control procedures needed to produce complete and accurate data are labor intensive. The vast majority of cases are reported to the GBACR within 12 months of the diagnosis date, but the data cannot be published until case reporting is estimated to be at least 95 percent complete--and the last 10 percent are the hardest to complete. Can you delete my name and personal information from the Greater Bay Area Cancer Registry? What data are available from the Greater Bay Area Cancer Registry for research use? How complete are Greater Bay Area Cancer Registry data? What is the GBACR's role in cancer cluster investigations? A cancer cluster can be defined in many ways. It can involve groups of persons with cancer who have any of a number of characteristics in common: age, gender, behavior, occupation, family members, time frame, location, type of cancer, etc. However, it has generally come to mean an unexplained excess of people with cancer diagnosed close together in time and geographic area. The Greater Bay Area Cancer Registry (GBACR) plays a significant role in cancer cluster investigations. NCCC responds to these concerns through a combination of education, information, and statistical analysis. For more information about cancer concerns please download our newsletter Greater Bay Area Cancer Registry Report and visit the California Cancer Registry's Frequently Asked Questions about Neighborhood Cancer Concerns webpage. If you still have questions or concerns after reading the newsletter, please contact Sheena Cresswell, Epidemiologist, at scresswe@nccc.org, or call 510-608-5036.
Which types of cancer are most common? How common is skin cancer? Unfortunately, almost anyone can develop cancer, even children and young adults who lead active, healthy lives. However, nearly 60 percent of the cancers diagnosed in California are among people 65 and older, who make up only about 10 percent of the population. Surprisingly, there are large differences among people of different ethnic origins. Generally, African American men have the highest cancer risk, and non-Hispanic white people have substantially higher cancer rates than persons of Latino or Asian origin. Childhood cancer rates are similar across ethnic groups. How many people currently have cancer? The current estimate in the recent California Cancer Facts and Figures is that more than 950,000 Californians alive in 2007 have a history of cancer, not including basal or squamous cell carcinomas of the skin or certain non-invasive cancerous conditions of the uterine cervix. Many of these individuals have no further evidence of the disease, and have the same life expectancy as people who have never been diagnosed with cancer. It is rarely possible to find the cause of a cancer in an individual, but studies on groups of people with cancer have shown specific risk factors to be associated with specific cancers. This suggests that different types of cancer probably have different causes. These studies also indicate that cancer formation is a multi-step process ('multi-factorial'), and that for most cancers the time from a cancer-causing exposure to a clinically diagnosable cancer averages about 20 years. Among the known risk factors for cancer, tobacco stands out. Cigarette smoking is associated with more than 85 percent of all lung cancers, and with a substantial proportion of cancers of the bladder, mouth and throat, stomach, pancreas and others. Diet is also a risk factor; higher cancer rates are seen in people who eat a diet high in fat and low in fresh vegetables and fruits. It is estimated that diet and tobacco together account for approximately two out of three cancers. Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women. About 50 percent of breast cancers are thought to be explained by known risk factors such as a family history of cancer and hormonal functions associated with early onset of menstruation and late menopause, delayed childbearing and having fewer children. Few risk factors have been defined for the most common cancer in men, prostate cancer. Occupational studies have shown certain chemicals and other substances to be carcinogenic; these include asbestos, benzene, arsenic, vinyl chloride and other industrial products. Exposure to these substances is thought to account for about 5 percent of all cancers. Are cancer rates in the Greater Bay Area going up? No! Overall cancer incidence and mortality rates have continued to decline in the Greater Bay Area, in large part due to declines in tobacco-related cancers in males and increased use of cancer screening tests in females. Incidence rates for invasive breast cancer declined sharply in most racial/ethnic groups for the years 2003 and 2004. Work is ongoing to see if these declines are temporary and if they relate to the stoppage of hormone replacement therapy by many women after the July 2002 announcement by the Women's Health Initiative that estrogen/progestin hormone therapy increases the risk of developing breast cancer and heart disease. However, even if the rates of cancer change very little, the total numbers of people who develop cancer will increase as the population gets older. This, combined with the fact that more people are surviving cancer and that people discuss cancer more readily, may have contributed to the widespread impression that the risk of developing cancer has increased recently. How common are cancer clusters? For more information about cancer clusters please download our newsletter Greater Bay Area Cancer Registry Report and visit the California Cancer Registry's Frequently Asked Questions about Neighborhood Cancer Concerns webpage. If you still have questions or concerns after reading the newsletter, please contact Sheena Cresswell, Epidemiologist, at scresswe@nccc.org, or call 510-608-5036. How can I find out more about a particular cancer? How can I enroll in a clinical trial for cancer treatment? Information on clinical trials is available from the National Cancer Institute's Cancer Information Service at 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237), and from their Comprehensive Cancer Database website. How did a cancer researcher get my name and phone number? A cancer researcher may have obtained your name and phone number from a hospital or facility where you were treated for cancer, or by applying to the Greater Bay Area Cancer Registry (GBACR). The state law mandating the California Cancer Registry requires that the information gathered be used solely for research into the causes and cures for cancer. Some research requires contacting patients to get information about their past histories. The GBACR provides patient contact information to researchers only under strict procedures. Patient identity is disclosed only to researchers who are conducting projects meeting stringent requirements for scientific merit and for handling of confidential information, and whose research has been approved by a federally authorized committee that oversees the protection of human subjects (Institutional Review Board). What can I do to lower my risk of developing or dying from cancer?
**These FAQs have been adapted and modified from those published on the California Cancer Registry's Questions page. |
